I find the article's title misleading. From reading it, I think that those who took the survey were looking at the last 70 years of popular culture. If we were really looking at ''from all time", Diana would have some heavy competition.

I'm a fan but that article is hyperbole. Yes Diana was an iconic figure in her lifetime, certainly in the last decade of it. People even now have fond memories of her and love and admire her. However, an icon of all time? Don't think so!

Wait till the Cambridges are in India and the press starts dragging up all kinds of comparisons with Charles and Diana's visits while they're there! I like that they're visiting the Taj Mahal together. It's a way of saying there's a new generation now.

I think its a given that there are going to be comparisons made especially when W&K visit the Taj Mahal. Not only does it portray that there's a new generation but also shows that time moves on and love heals all. I'm really looking forwards to following this trip. The Cambridges are going to be one very busy couple.

__________________
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
― John Lennon

This is one reason why I enjoy seeing William and Catherine together and happy, along with their little family. It shows that the War of the Wales has truly been laid to rest. I've been rereading a couple of good Diana biographies lately and find it reassuring that things have turned out so well for William.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Osipi

I think its a given that there are going to be comparisons made especially when W&K visit the Taj Mahal. Not only does it portray that there's a new generation but also shows that time moves on and love heals all.

I like that KP made it known that William knows the history behind the photos of his mothers visit to the Taj Mahal, and how the the Cambridge's are looking forward to doing things right and making new memories at the Taj Mahal. They know comparisons will be made.

__________________"THE REAL POWER OF A MAN IS IN THE SIZE OF THE SMILE OF THE WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO HIM."

Isn't the real story that Royal tours are planned months in advance.
Prince Charles' visits were not last minute.

It was on the books that Charles had an engagement in Delhi and to this day, we often see a royal couple split up and do separate engagements when on a tour. They can cover more ground that way. Its how its planned and executed.

It wasn't that Charles deliberately chose not to visit the Taj Mahal with Diana unless, of course, it was worked out that way when the itinerary was drawn up but rather how things went. Of course Diana used this to her advantage but really didn't downright allude to marriage problems at the time.

__________________
“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.”
― John Lennon

I think it was down to the officials who arranged their schedules and the opportunity was missed. It wasn't the best PR move at the time and it helped highlight the problems that was going on at the time.

__________________"THE REAL POWER OF A MAN IS IN THE SIZE OF THE SMILE OF THE WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO HIM."

Ken Wharfe says in Closely Guarded Secret that it was just something that happened, not something that was planned by Diana - though she certainly used it to her advantage. James Whitaker says in Diana v. Charles that Charles "shunned the anticipated photo-call outside the Taj Mahal because of its gruesome superficiality", which implies it was an active decision on his part. I don't know whether that is merely an assumption or he had sound reason to say it, but by this stage the marriage was in tatters, having long passed the point of no return, and it makes sense to me that Charles would have made a point of avoiding that photo op for its blatant hypocrisy.

By then these two were openly hostile to each other, sometimes even quite rude to each other in front of others, avoiding speaking to each other at all when possible, and they not only didn't occupy the same suite at the Viceroy's Palace in New Delhi but slept on different floors. The Taj Mahal incident was only a few days before Diana's infamous head turning trick when Charles went to kiss her at the polo game on the eve of Valentine's Day in Jaipur.

__________________"That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, -- and call off Christmas!!!"

Ken Wharfe says in Closely Guarded Secret that it was just something that happened, not something that was planned by Diana - though she certainly used it to her advantage. James Whitaker says in Diana v. Charles that Charles "shunned the anticipated photo-call outside the Taj Mahal because of its gruesome superficiality", which implies it was an active decision on his part. I don't know whether that is merely an assumption or he had sound reason to say it, but by this stage the marriage was in tatters, having long passed the point of no return, and it makes sense to me that Charles would have made a point of avoiding that photo op for its blatant hypocrisy.

By then these two were openly hostile to each other, sometimes even quite rude to each other in front of others, avoiding speaking to each other at all when possible, and they not only didn't occupy the same suite at the Viceroy's Palace in New Delhi but slept on different floors. The Taj Mahal incident was only a few days before Diana's infamous head turning trick when Charles went to kiss her at the polo game on the eve of Valentine's Day in Jaipur.

Charles and Diana were going through (what I call) their 'Lucy and Desi' moments in those early days. Thank God it all stopped before Diana's passing.

__________________"THE REAL POWER OF A MAN IS IN THE SIZE OF THE SMILE OF THE WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO HIM."

Diana's Taj Mahal moment was in February 1992, only five and a half years before she died though, so hardly the early days. It must have been ghastly for the two of them to be together in front of photographers on engagements on this tour, the the later South Korean one being even worse. They weren't even sharing the same hotel suite let alone the same bedroom.

Diana's Taj Mahal moment was in February 1992, only five and a half years before she died though, so hardly the early days. It must have been ghastly for the two of them to be together in front of photographers on engagements on this tour, the the later South Korean one being even worse. They weren't even sharing the same hotel suite let alone the same bedroom.

Yeah, but things calmed down a lot for them before her passing. I'm just saying things weren't that good between them in the start of the 90's. They tried to carry on though when they were duty together.

They were planning to tour the British Isles together on the Royal Yacht Britannia before its decommission in 97. So things were fine by that time.

__________________"THE REAL POWER OF A MAN IS IN THE SIZE OF THE SMILE OF THE WOMAN SITTING NEXT TO HIM."

Dickie Arbiter, in his book on his Press Officer days with the BRF, states that the couple were given separate itineraries to cover the greatest amount of ground (but there was a need to bring them together for great photo opportunities.) Diana was scheduled to be in Agra while Charles was committed to giving a keynote address at an International Business Leaders conference in Bangalore, 1200 miles away.

Arbiter writes of the splendid PR opportunity that the Wales's could have had at the Taj Mahal, that it had been discussed at length during the reconnoiter that had been done pre trip. The POW had visited the Taj Mahal before and had vowed 'One day I would like to bring my bride here". Charles, Dickie says, was not interested in 'changing the arrangements'. There seems to have been a hint of frustration in the Press Office as once the couple's schedule had been made public the tabloids were screaming 'Di to visit Taj Mahal on her own!' and speculating on Why.

Dickie says he was told not to broach the subject of the Taj Mahal with the Prince any more. He got the sense both were tired of the whole charade. Sky News reporter Simon McKoy asked Diana what she thought as she sat on the bench in front of the monument. She paused and then said 'It was a healing experience..very healing.' McKoy asked 'What do you mean exactly?' and Diana replied, with a gleam in her eye 'Work it out for yourself'.